KEIR Starmer must act to sack a Scottish Labour candidate who told a voter his party had deliberately aimed to help the Tories win a key constituency in the 2019 General Election, the SNP have said.
The Labour leader was called on to act after The National exclusively published footage showing Tauqeer Malik, his party’s candidate in Aberdeen South, caught making the bombshell admission on a doorbell camera.
Malik, who is running against the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, said: “When Douglas was [the Conservative] candidate, Douglas Lumsden, in 2019 we did not bother, Labour did not bother at all, we were hoping that Douglas would make it.
“That’s why Labour had only 3000 [votes], because we did not do anything.”
In the wake The National publishing the footage, SNP campaign director Stewart Hosie said it was “an absolute disgrace and the Labour Party leadership now have some serious questions to answer”.
He went on: "This is concrete evidence of a Labour Party candidate openly expressing his preference for the Tories to win in 2019 – a Labour Party candidate who was secretly campaigning to bring about a Boris Johnson Brexit government.
"This video footage is proof of Labour in Aberdeen in collusion with the Conservatives, doing literally anything to attack the SNP, no matter the consequences for Scotland.
"If Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar have any ounce of credibility or integrity, they need to sack him immediately.
“The Labour Party cannot credibly say they want to get rid of the Tories if their own candidates are secretly backing Conservative candidates.
"In the last few days, the Labour Party sacked a candidate in England for betting on himself to lose – will Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar now sack this Scottish Labour candidate for backing Boris Johnson and the Tories to win?
“Across Scotland, the SNP are fighting to remove the Tories from office, but in Aberdeen South and across the North East, the Labour Party are at best absent and at worst complicit in supporting Conservative campaigns.
“As the main challenger to the Tories in this election, we have the opportunity to get rid of every Tory MP in Scotland and put Scotland’s interests first.
"On July 4, vote SNP to build a future made in Scotland – for Scotland.”
